'I haven't known life to be happier': Brad Pitt opens up about being a family man after Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy

His fiancee Angelina Jolie bravely revealed last week that she recently underwent a preventative double mastectomy.

But even though times have been tough of late, Brad Pitt has revealed that he is the happiest he has ever been.

The actor has opened up in his first print interview since Angelina completed three months of surgery.

Happy chap: Brad Pitt has revealed that he has never been happier in a new interview with Esquire magazine

‘I have very few friends. I have a handful of close friends and I have my family and I haven’t known life to be any happier,’ he tells the new issue of Esquire magazine.‘I’m making things. I just haven’t known life to be any happier.’

Brad graces the cover of the publication, and can be seen looking as hunky as ever in a black top and wrinkled jeans, with aviator sunglasses covering his face.

The star’s trademark long golden hair flops around his shoulder as he casually grips a camera in one hand.

Blue steel: The unshaven 49-year-old can be seen looking hunky as ever in a black top and wrinkled jeans, with aviator sunglasses covering his face

'I was a bit of a drifter': Brad, who is currently promoting his latest movie World War Z, believed his recreational drug use did some ‘damage’

Brad also gushes about his six
children with Angelina in the sweet interview. The couple are parents to
Maddox, 11, Pax, nine, Zahara, eight, Shiloh, six, and four-year-old
twins Knox and Vivienne.

And
although there is never a quiet moment in the Jolie-Pitt household,
Brad says he wouldn’t change it for the world and misses his brood when
they’re not there.

‘I
always thought that if I wanted to do a family, I wanted to do it big,’
he explained. ‘I wanted there to be chaos in the house… there’s constant
chatter in our house, whether it’s giggling or screaming or crying or
banging.

Opening up: The hunky actor spoke out in his first print interview since Angelina Jolie revealed she recently underwent a double mastectomy

‘I love it. I love it. I love it. I
hate it when they’re gone. I hate it. Maybe it’s nice to be in a hotel
room for a day – “Oh, nice, I can finally read a paper.” But then, by
the next day, I miss that cacophony, all that life.’

At
49, the Moneyball star has settled into family life but he revealed he
used to be concerned at his inability to stick to anything.

‘I’d
get so far and then want to do something else,’ he admitted. ‘I mean,
I’m two credits short of graduating college . Two credits. All I had to
do was write a paper.

‘What kind of guy is that? That guy scares me – the guy who always leaves a little on his plate.’

Hard at work: Brad, who is promoting his new movie World War Z, was spotted leaving a meeting in Los Angeles on Wednesday

Family man: Times have been tough for the hot Hollywood couple but Brad still says he has not 'known life to be any happier'

Brad, who is currently promoting his latest movie World War Z, believed his recreational drug use did some ‘damage’, he confessed.

‘For a long time I thought I did too much damage – drug damage,’ he said. ‘I was a bit of a drifter. A guy who felt he grew up in something of a vacuum and wanted to see things, wanted to be inspired. I followed that other thing. I spent years f***ing off.

‘But then I got burnt out and felt that I was wasting my opportunity. It was a conscious change. This was about a decade ago. It was an epiphany – a decision not to squander my opportunities. It was a feeling of get up. Because otherwise, what’s the point?’

Big brood: The stars have six children and Brad says he loves the constant noise in their home

Brad praised Angelina as ‘heroic’ after she published a piece in the New York Times revealing she had undergone the double mastectomy on Tuesday.

'We set up our own little post-op recovery that became pretty fun. You make an adventure out of it,' he later told USA Today.

'I'm quite emotional about it, of course,' Brad said. 'She could have stayed absolutely private about it and I don't think anyone would have been none the wiser with such good results.

'But it was really important to her to share the story and that others would understand it doesn't have to be a scary thing. In fact, it can be an empowering thing, and something that makes you stronger and us stronger.'

'Heroic': Brad praised his brave fiancee for opening up about her surgery in the hope of helping other women